INFLUENCE OF NONSPECIFIC INTERFERENCE ON RESPONSE RECALL

The general finding of Exp. I was that impressive amounts of retroactive inhibition (RI) may be produced when the interpolated learning consists of unrelated materials; this was true for responses in paired-associate lists as well as responses learned by the method of free recall. In order to understand better the large amount of RI obtained with unrelated sets of paired associates (A-B, C-D transfer paradigm), this condition was compared with the A-B, A-D paradigm at 3 degrees of 1st-list learning in Exp. II. Exp. II revealed relatively small differences between the 2 paradigms at all degrees of learning. Exp. III indicated that the absence of 1st-list stimuli at recall was responsible for the failure to observe reliable differences between the 2 paradigms in Exp. II. Results are discussed in terms of 2 different interpretations of RI, unlearning and response suppression. (24 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.